I need 'OUT' !
 

I would be interested to learn how other Members 'delegate' actions to other individuals. I enter, on average, 200+ actions a day, of which probably 80%+ can be delegated to someone else. I normally wait until I have access to OmniFocus on my desktop and use drag-and-drop before dealing with these items. OK, I obviously would like some kind of 'share' facility within the App or the desktop program but any suggestions or experience by other Members on how best I could manage this would be very much appreciated. Thanks.

Yeah, I think OF is the wrong tool for the job here. It is not a multi-user collaboration tool at present and if you're delegating 160 tasks a day it's probably best if you can directly assign tasks.

[QUOTE=CatOne;79879]Yeah, I think OF is the wrong tool for the job here. It is not a multi-user collaboration tool at present and if you're delegating 160 tasks a day it's probably best if you can directly assign tasks.[/QUOTE]

I appreciate what you're saying CatOne. However, OmniFocus adds immense value to our workflow and I can't think of any other product that would do a better job.

OK, it isn't the end of the world that we have to wait until we're at our desktops to assign actions to each other manually via OmniOutliner, I was just wondering if anyone else had come up with any kind of workaround.

I did trawl the board before posting, noting that some users have succeeded in setting up shared databases, but other Members seem to think this isn't without significant risk. I'd be interested in the pros-and-cons.

In the past, we've tried emailing tasks into each others desktop OmniFocus program using the Mail rule, but found it unreliable, even ensuring that the email doesn't have any form of attachment still doesn't seem to guarantee that it will be successfully processed.

The presence of an attachment isn't the only way the process can get tripped up. If the message is attachment-free, but not plain text, it also won't work. Some mail programs are all too happy to apply styling to the text you send.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;79910]The presence of an attachment isn't the only way the process can get tripped up. If the message is attachment-free, but not plain text, it also won't work. Some mail programs are all too happy to apply styling to the text you send.[/QUOTE]

Thanks whpalmer4. I spent hours scratching my head trying to figure out why forwarded emails didn't get added, even though they appeared to be just plain text! Apple's email App on the iPhone must be applying some form of styling to the original text in a forwarded message.

I'm now wondering if it would be possible to modify the bookmarklet script to work with emails, as a way to delegate tasks to other OmniFocus iPhone users.

[QUOTE=CatOne;79879]Yeah, I think OF is the wrong tool for the job here. It is not a multi-user collaboration tool at present and if you're delegating 160 tasks a day it's probably best if you can directly assign tasks.[/QUOTE]

Delegating doesn't necessarily imply multi-user collaboration. The whole idea of delegating implies assigning a task and then following up to see it is completed with a subordinate.

I'd be happy if I could email an action to a subordinate. Be nice too if one could assign a contact from the addressbook to a context or an email to the context that would be used to populate the email that OF for iPhone could create.

Right now i do this on OF for Mac where I've written a script that emails a task to a person (creates a new email in Mail). When the email is sent, a notation is placed in the notes field. When they reply, I have it go into a smart mailbox so I can see what the reply is.

I've been dying to have the ability to email an action right out of OF for iPhone. Presently you can do this with Things, Appigo's ToDo and, I would presume, others. With in app email capability since iOS 3, and since many applications do this, I'd really like to see Omni jump on this one.

J.

[QUOTE=JohnJ80;79945]Delegating doesn't necessarily imply multi-user collaboration. The whole idea of delegating implies assigning a task and then following up to see it is completed with a subordinate.

I'd be happy if I could email an action to a subordinate. Be nice too if one could assign a contact from the addressbook to a context or an email to the context that would be used to populate the email that OF for iPhone could create.

Right now i do this on OF for Mac where I've written a script that emails a task to a person (creates a new email in Mail). When the email is sent, a notation is placed in the notes field. When they reply, I have it go into a smart mailbox so I can see what the reply is.

I've been dying to have the ability to email an action right out of OF for iPhone. Presently you can do this with Things, Appigo's ToDo and, I would presume, others. With in app email capability since iOS 3, and since many applications do this, I'd really like to see Omni jump on this one.

J.[/QUOTE]

JohnJ80,

Thank you for taking the time-and-trouble to respond.

I have examined other To Do/GTD products but none offer the industrial strength that OmniFocus has as its core feature. That doesn't stop me getting a touch of the green-eyed monsters at some of the import/export options that other Apps and their desktop equivalents currently offer.

I'd like to ask if you'd be willing to share your script with other users? Just for myself, although I'm guessing it would be true for most of my colleagues, it would be genuinely appreciated.

Thanks.

[QUOTE=endoftheQ;79912]Thanks whpalmer4. I spent hours scratching my head trying to figure out why forwarded emails didn't get added, even though they appeared to be just plain text! Apple's email App on the iPhone must be applying some form of styling to the original text in a forwarded message.
[/QUOTE]

The other way that the forwarded emails can fail to get added is if the desktop mail client isn't the first mail client to touch them. For example, suppose you send an email from an iPhone to an account that is read on both the iPhone and the desktop. Suppose you have that desktop machine set up to suck emails into OmniFocus. My experience is that the email won't make it to OF, because the iPhone touches the incoming message first and that prevents the script from running for the incoming message on the desktop.

It seems like the reliable solution is to ensure only plain-text messages, sent to an account that is only read on the desktop.

[QUOTE=curt.clifton;80020]The other way that the forwarded emails can fail to get added is if the desktop mail client isn't the first mail client to touch them.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for this Curt. It's one of the things we learnt about by trial-and-error. As we attempted to find a solution to our delegate problem, we headed our emails to each other '--DNO' (standing for Do Not Open on your iPhone!) because of this flaw.

I have to confess that I find it a bit lame of Omni that they talk about [I]Send to OmniFocus[/I] for other Apps yet don't implement it themselves!!

Appreciate you taking the time out to respond.

[QUOTE=endoftheQ;80022]Thanks for this Curt. It's one of the things we learnt about by trial-and-error. As we attempted to find a solution to our delegate problem, we headed our emails to each other '--DNO' (standing for Do Not Open on your iPhone!) because of this flaw.[/QUOTE]

In my experiments, it appeared that simply having the iPhone mail app be the first to download the message (didn't have to read it) was enough to cause the rule not to run on the desktop.

Also, the iPhone mail app doesn't forward plain text messages as plain text :(

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;80023]In my experiments, it appeared that simply having the iPhone mail app be the first to download the message (didn't have to read it) was enough to cause the rule not to run on the desktop.[/QUOTE]

Interesting, whpalmer4. That wasn't my experience. However, it may have simply been that our desktops were consistently downloading before the iPhones.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;80023]Also, the iPhone mail app doesn't forward plain text messages as plain text :([/QUOTE]

I wish I'd requested help before I agonised over my failure to get forwarded emails processed!

As previously stated, I really do think Omni has a duty to implement [I]Send to OmniFocus[/I] themselves, especially as they actively encourage other App developers to do so!

Here's my solution for your very issue (it does require syncing from the desktop though):

[url]http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=16524&highlight=policarpo[/url]

Hope that helps.

[QUOTE=endoftheQ;80024]I
As previously stated, I really do think Omni has a duty to implement [I]Send to OmniFocus[/I] themselves, especially as they actively encourage other App developers to do so![/QUOTE]
I'm not sure I follow you — how are they supposed to change the Mail app (or any other) to inject content into OmniFocus?

[QUOTE=policarpo;80026]Here's my solution for your very issue (it does require syncing from the desktop though):

[url]http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=16524&highlight=policarpo[/url]

Hope that helps.[/QUOTE]

policarpo, you have created an awesome delegation blueprint, but as you admit, it does require manipulation through OmniFocus on a desktop. I'm chasing the dream of delegating or sharing actions from my iPhone/iPad!

@endoftheQ

Thanks. That dream was discussed here:
[url]http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=16348&highlight=policarpo[/url]

I've sent all this stuff to OmniGroup, so I hope something syncs in @ some point. :)

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;80027]I'm not sure I follow you — how are they supposed to change the Mail app (or any other) to inject content into OmniFocus?[/QUOTE]

Apologies whpalmer4. I know that I have difficulties in expressing my posts in a technically literate way.

I use several Apps that can send their content to another App, either the same App on another user's iPhone or a different App on the same iPhone. Ken has outlined what is required, so other Apps can be programed to send into OmniFocus on the iPhone. But OmniFocus doesn't have this ability itself. i.e. I cannot send from within OmniFocus (to another OmniFocus user) an action.

If I'm not making myself clear, again my apologies.

[QUOTE=endoftheQ;80032]Apologies whpalmer4. I know that I have difficulties in expressing my posts in a technically literate way.

I use several Apps that can send their content to another App, either the same App on another user's iPhone or a different App on the same iPhone. Ken has outlined what is required, so other Apps can be programed to send into OmniFocus on the iPhone. But OmniFocus doesn't have this ability itself. i.e. I cannot send from within OmniFocus (to another OmniFocus user) an action.

If I'm not making myself clear, again my apologies.[/QUOTE]
Ah, okay, you want something completely different than what I thought you wanted. I thought you were looking for a way to take an email you'd received and convert it into an OmniFocus action while at large with your iPhone. That requires some help from Apple, because other applications can't just pull things out of the mail (put things in, yes). If you want OmniFocus to be able to generate an email that has enough information for another copy of OmniFocus to be able to construct an action (essentially, very slow sync by email!) that should be feasible without Apple's involvement, although once again, getting that email into OmniFocus on the far end is a bit tricky if there isn't a Mac running the desktop software to do the heavy lifting.

I just saw Curt's message and didn't read back to the beginning of the thread, so my apologies for not coming at this in the right direction.

[QUOTE=endoftheQ;79947]JohnJ80,

Thank you for taking the time-and-trouble to respond.

I have examined other To Do/GTD products but none offer the industrial strength that OmniFocus has as its core feature. That doesn't stop me getting a touch of the green-eyed monsters at some of the import/export options that other Apps and their desktop equivalents currently offer.

I'd like to ask if you'd be willing to share your script with other users? Just for myself, although I'm guessing it would be true for most of my colleagues, it would be genuinely appreciated.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

Sure. Here it is:

tell front document of application "OmniFocus"
-- get the window the user is using
set |w| to first document window whose index is 1
-- find out where we are and if there's anything we can do

set theItems to selected trees of content of |w|

-- Detect common failure modes and explain

if ((count of theItems) is 0) then
display alert ¬
"Select an action to " & toolName message "You have not selected an action"
return
end if

if ((count of theItems) is greater than 1) then
display alert ¬
"Select just one action to " & toolName message "You have selected more than one item, please select just one"
return
end if

set selectedItem to value of item 1 of theItems

if ((class of selectedItem) is inbox task) then
display alert ¬
"Sorry, action not supported" message "Actions in inbox do not reveal their projects in version " & toolVersion & " of " & toolName
return
end if


if ((class of selectedItem) is not task) then
display alert ¬
"Select an action to email." & "You have selected something that isn't a single action"
return
end if

try
set _dueDate to (get due date of selectedItem as date)
on error
set _dueDate to "None"
end try


try
set _note to (get note of selectedItem)
on error
set _note to ""
end try


try
set _project to the name of (get containing project of selectedItem)
on error
set _project to "None"
end try

try
set _context to the name of (get context of selectedItem)
on error
set _contexct to "None"
end try


try
set _subject to the name of selectedItem
on error
set _subject to "No Subject"
end try



set _body to "Action Item: " & _subject & return
set _body to _body & "Date Due: " & _dueDate & return
set _body to _body & "Project: " & _project & return
set _body to _body & "Context: " & _context & return

set note of selectedItem to ((current date) as string) & " " & "sent followup up email " & return & _note


end tell


tell application "Mail"
set _signature to content of signature 1
set _body to _body & return & _signature
set _id to (get id of (make new outgoing message with properties {subject:"Followup on Action Request:" & _subject, content:_body}))
activate
set win_index to (get index of front window)
set visible of outgoing message 1 to true
end tell

Some of this has been shamelessly copied from other scripts. I apologize for not keeping the author's information available. I also accept no responsiblity that this will work properly, as described or not do heinous damage to your system (in other words, you are on your own with this).

I set this up so it is in the Applecripts menu for Omnifocus. It creates an email with the subject "Followup on Action Request:" I use this to capture the response from a subordinate in a smart mailbox in mail.

I then also have another script that gets the last sent email from my sent items, creates a link which I can then paste into the note field. Clicking this link takes me to the email that was sent.

J.

[QUOTE=endoftheQ;80032]
I use several Apps that can send their content to another App, either the same App on another user's iPhone or a different App on the same iPhone. Ken has outlined what is required, so other Apps can be programed to send into OmniFocus on the iPhone. But OmniFocus doesn't have this ability itself. i.e. I cannot send from within OmniFocus (to another OmniFocus user) an action.
[/QUOTE]

Apologies in advance for being circumspect, but it seems OF iPad will have the ability within the app to send a task to another OF user who can then tap a link in the message and add the task to their OF database. If that makes it into OF iPad, then I would guess we'll eventually see it in OF iPhone and desktop.

[QUOTE=curt.clifton;80037]Apologies in advance for being circumspect, but it seems OF iPad will have the ability within the app to send a task to another OF user who can then tap a link in the message and add the task to their OF database. If that makes it into OF iPad, then I would guess we'll eventually see it in OF iPhone and desktop.[/QUOTE]
Curt's right — I was still stuck on the how to get an arbitrary email into OmniFocus concept when I answered. For a message created by OmniFocus, which can be encoded as a moderately complex omnifocus:// URL (like the ones used for sending sync settings to the iPhone on setup via email), you would just have to tap on the link in the Mail app, OmniFocus would be invoked, and you'd be off to the races. Getting an arbitrary email with no control over formatting and so on in is much harder, but probably not needed. It might even be possible to send along attachments via the URL route, encoding them in base64, although it wouldn't surprise me at all to discover that Mail falls down at handling them at a smaller size than would be convenient.

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;80033]I thought you were looking for a way to take an email you'd received and convert it into an OmniFocus action while at large with your iPhone.[/QUOTE]

No whpalmer4 you're not wrong, in truth, I was originally asking about that. As always, apologies that my airy-fairy posts may have devolved into something else! As an experiment, you can embed the javascript into an email and send it on, it's then possible to click on the embedded link and launch OmniFocus which then fills up with with the appropriately formatted content.

[QUOTE=curt.clifton;80037]Apologies in advance for being circumspect, but it seems OF iPad will have the ability within the app to send a task to another OF user who can then tap a link in the message and add the task to their OF database. If that makes it into OF iPad, then I would guess we'll eventually see it in OF iPhone and desktop.[/QUOTE]

This is a feature I love about some of the ToDo apps on the iPhone. If the user has the same GTD app installed, then clicking on it in Mail opens it directly in their GTD App inBox.

I hope we get something like this in OF.

[QUOTE=policarpo;80040]This is a feature I love about some of the ToDo apps on the iPhone. If the user has the same GTD app installed, then clicking on it in Mail opens it directly in their GTD App inBox.

I hope we get something like this in OF.[/QUOTE]

Have you tried this in OmniFocus? I don't know if it works across users and their databases, but I can drag a task from OmniFocus on the Mac to an email, send it to my iPhone, and clicking on the link in the email on the iPhone opens the task in OmniFocus.

[QUOTE=Greg Jones;80041]Have you tried this in OmniFocus? I don't know if it works across users and their databases, but I can drag a task from OmniFocus on the Mac to an email, send it to my iPhone, and clicking on the link in the email on the iPhone opens the task in OmniFocus.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but this only works if you are synced to the same database, not for separate databases.

[QUOTE=Greg Jones;80041]Have you tried this in OmniFocus? I don't know if it works across users and their databases, but I can drag a task from OmniFocus on the Mac to an email, send it to my iPhone, and clicking on the link in the email on the iPhone opens the task in OmniFocus.[/QUOTE]
What Mac OmniFocus puts in there is a link to an existing action, which you'll be taken to if all goes well. Looks like omnifocus:///task/pid_cO-rlGO for some value of pid_cO-rlGO. It works for your database, but no one else's, and just gives a pointer to the action, not any of the data. You couldn't use it to reconstruct the action in a new database, for example.

As of OmniFocus for iPhone 1.6, and probably one of the post-1.7.5 sneaky peek builds on the desktop, OmniFocus understands URLs of the form [URL]omnifocus:///add?name=hello%20world&note=text%20and%20http://example.org/%20link[/URL] (omnifocus:///add?name=hello%20world&note=text%20and%20http://example.org/%20link)
which when clicked will get you a quick entry box with name and note filled in and you add project, context, and dates. It also brings us full circle to "hey, Omni should implement Send to OmniFocus" because they've got all of the pieces ;)

[quote=whpalmer4;80044]what mac omnifocus puts in there is a link to an existing action, which you'll be taken to if all goes well. Looks like omnifocus:///task/pid_co-rlgo for some value of pid_co-rlgo. It works for your database, but no one else's, and just gives a pointer to the action, not any of the data. You couldn't use it to reconstruct the action in a new database, for example.

As of omnifocus for iphone 1.6, and probably one of the post-1.7.5 sneaky peek builds on the desktop, omnifocus understands urls of the form [url]omnifocus:///add?name=hello%20world&note=text%20and%20http://example.org/%20link[/url] (omnifocus:///add?name=hello%20world&note=text%20and%20http://example.org/%20link)
which when clicked will get you a quick entry box with name and note filled in and you add project, context, and dates. It also brings us full circle to "hey, omni should implement send to omnifocus" because they've got all of the pieces ;)[/quote]


sweeeeeeeet!!!

This is like the text clipping feature.

but this doesn't work via a simple drag and drop of the Task in email does it?

I can't seem to get it to work...or does it need to be a Task generated from 1 sneaky Peek to the other?

How do you generate this automatically?

[QUOTE=policarpo;80046]
How do you generate this automatically?[/QUOTE]

You can't generate it automatically (at least not without a custom script) in the current released versions of the app. It seems that the OF iPad app may generate emails with such links automatically. Based on that, I'm guessing the feature will come to the iPhone and desktop eventually.

Someone who knows a little AppleScript could automate the generation of such emails on the desktop without too much trouble. Generation of such emails on the iPhone will require work on Omni's part, but hopefully that will happen soon.

[QUOTE=curt.clifton;80037]Apologies in advance for being circumspect, but it seems OF iPad will have the ability within the app to send a task to another OF user who can then tap a link in the message and add the task to their OF database. If that makes it into OF iPad, then I would guess we'll eventually see it in OF iPhone and desktop.[/QUOTE]

This would be huge if it could happen on the iPhone too. Hopefully the message contains information from the action in text form so that one could send an action to anyone and they could act on it whether or not they had OF.

J.

I think this simple feature addition on all 3 platforms would help tremendously in collaborative environments.

Please make it happen. This will get us 1 step closer to collaborative delegation within OmniFocus. :)

@whpalmer4

Any chance you have this as an Applescript you could compile and share so that it could be used on the desktop?:D

[QUOTE=Greg Jones;80041]Have you tried this in OmniFocus? I don't know if it works across users and their databases, but I can drag a task from OmniFocus on the Mac to an email, send it to my iPhone, and clicking on the link in the email on the iPhone opens the task in OmniFocus.[/QUOTE]

ohhhhhhh... thanks for this, Greg!

[QUOTE=Greg Jones;80041]Have you tried this in OmniFocus? I don't know if it works across users and their databases, but I can drag a task from OmniFocus on the Mac to an email, send it to my iPhone, and clicking on the link in the email on the iPhone opens the task in OmniFocus.[/QUOTE]

OMG, where have you been all my life, Greg? I never, ever realised this was possible... ! Thanks Pal.

[QUOTE=JohnJ80;80086]This would be huge if it could happen on the iPhone too. Hopefully the message contains information from the action in text form so that one could send an action to anyone and they could act on it whether or not they had OF.

J.[/QUOTE]

Yup! + SMS and MMS support. I'd love to be able to delegate dozens of actions by text such as 'clean the car' to my Old Lady and the Kids (who don't have the OmniFocus App). I imagine extensive use of this feature might even help me get the divorce and spare bedrooms I so desperately crave!

ASIDE: I can't wait to test out your script, JohnJ80. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for posting it.

I've just come across a To Do App, [URL="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/honeydo/id367164034?mt=8"]HoneyDo[/URL], whose raison d'être is the ability to delegate actions. I really think Omni is missing a sales trick here, because if it were possible to delegate tasks, I would certainly encourage other individuals (the wife and kids spring immediately to mind!) to purchase OmniFocus so I could offload actions to them.

[QUOTE=endoftheQ;80158]Yup! + SMS and MMS support. I'd love to be able to delegate dozens of actions by text such as 'clean the car' to my Old Lady and the Kids (who don't have the OmniFocus App). I imagine extensive use of this feature might even help me get the divorce and spare bedrooms I so desperately crave!

ASIDE: I can't wait to test out your script, JohnJ80. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for posting it.[/QUOTE]

glad to help. let me know if it works for you.

I just bought this HoneyDo app from the app store. I think it has a lot of elements that make a lot of sense.

One thing that just came to mind, and would need some more idea development - if Omni were to put Tags support into OF *and* the ability to assign an email address to a tag, theoretically one could tag the action with those to whom it was delegated. Pressing a button would send the action to all as an email/sms/mms etc... Would be really interesting and helpful.

There is a big need for the ability to delegate a task and to get that task in written/electronic form to the person to whom it was delegated. That's a big issue for a lot of us that work in teams, in families, supervisory roles and other cooperative groups.

Another thing I noticed - many times we discuss issues and features like this and then they show up in other apps.... Hmmmm.


J.

I totally concur. I have my team in the GTD workflow to get our stuff done, and having a robust Sharing feature in OF would be ideal.

On a side note, the wife and I use Zenbe to share our lists and it works great. If we had the ability to share Tasks in OF I would be using it with her.

I know there is talk of better communication between Omniplan and OmniFocus, but I feel that this is a little overwhelming for teams who use OF exclusively.

Sharing. Delegation. Tracking. These are all features we need now in OF, and if someone stumbles upon this we will see GTD being used even more by collaborative teams.

[QUOTE=JohnJ80;80932]glad to help. let me know if it works for you.J.[/QUOTE]

It works fine, I'm truly grateful for your willingness to share it.

[QUOTE=JohnJ80;80932]I just bought this HoneyDo app from the app store. I think it has a lot of elements that make a lot of sense.J.[/QUOTE]

I agree. I'm not exaggerating when I say that most of my frustration in using OmniFocus is the lack of a way to share or delegate Actions, Projects, Contexts, etc.

[QUOTE=JohnJ80;80932]One thing that just came to mind, and would need some more idea development - if Omni were to put Tags support into OF *and* the ability to assign an email address to a tag, theoretically one could tag the action with those to whom it was delegated. Pressing a button would send the action to all as an email/sms/mms etc... Would be really interesting and helpful.J.[/QUOTE]

OK, that's one sexy concept! I alternate between wanting multiple contexts (which would halve my current list) or tags, preferably both! I'd also like OmniFocus to support contacts from the address book. It's maddening that even iCal doesn't support contacts, ie. you can't enter 'call John' with John being added from the address book, so that when the time came to call him it would just be a matter of clicking the link.

[QUOTE=JohnJ80;80932]There is a big need for the ability to delegate a task and to get that task in written/electronic form to the person to whom it was delegated. That's a big issue for a lot of us that work in teams, in families, supervisory roles and other cooperative groups.J.[/QUOTE]

Again, I agree. I've just opened a post on the OmniFocus Syncing forum re: push delegation (see this [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=16907"]link[/URL]).

[QUOTE=JohnJ80;80932]Another thing I noticed - many times we discuss issues and features like this and then they show up in other apps.... Hmmmm.J.[/QUOTE]

I thought I was imagining this, or it was coincidental, good to know other Members feel the same, and that I'm not just being paranoid!

Thanks again, JohnJ80.